Presenteeism and absenteeism: Differentiated understanding of related phenomena.

Abstract

In the past it was assumed that work attendance equated to performance. It now appears that health-related loss of productivity can be traced equally to workers showing up at work as well as to workers choosing not to. Presenteeism in the workplace, showing up for work while sick, seems now more prevalent than absenteeism. These findings are forcing organizations to reconsider their approaches regarding regular work attendance. Given this, and echoing recommendations in the literature, this study seeks to identify the main behavioral correlates of presenteeism and absenteeism in the workplace. Comparative analysis of the data from a representative sample of executives from the Public Service of Canada enables us to draw a unique picture of presenteeism and absenteeism with regards not only to the impacts of health disorders but also to the demographic, organizational, and individual factors involved. Results provide a better understanding of the similarities and differences between these phenomena, and more specifically, of the differentiated influence of certain variables. These findings provide food for thought and may pave the way to the development of new organizational measures designed to manage absenteeism without creating presenteeism.

Paid Sick Leave as a Means to Reduce Sickness Presenteeism Among Physicians

“…Women had higher sickness presenteeism than men in both phases of the study, which is parallel with earlier findings (Aronsson & Gustafsson, 2005;Gosselin et al, 2013). Conducting research was associated with increased sickness presenteeism among physicians included in the current study.…”

“…Research on presenteeism has uncovered a range of demographic variables that potentially influence the decision to work when sick, including gender (Gosselin et al, 2013;Johns, 2010), age (Aronsson & Gustafsson, 2005;Gosselin et al, 2013), work hours (Bockerman & Laukkanen, 2010b), and family status (i.e., having children; Aronsson et al, 2000). In addition, type of work has been associated with presenteeism among physicians (Rosvold & Bjertness, 2001).…”

Association between adjustment latitude and sickness presence – A panel study of Swedish employees

“…The concepts used to study this dimension include adjustment latitude, which describes the opportunities an employee has to adjust work to their health, and control, which describes how much control the employee has over how and when a work task should be performed. However, contrary to expectations, most studies have found that employees with high adjustment latitude or high control at work are less likely to report sickness presence than those who have fewer opportunities to adjust [2,6,7,9,[11][12][13].…”

“…The internal consistency of the scale can be considered good (Cronbach's α = 0.76). The index was dichotomized at the median into low (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) and high (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Information on self-rated health, financial situation, attendance requirements, job demands and loyalty was collected from the questionnaire in 2004, while information on sickness absence, vacation time/compensatory leave and the outcome (sickness presence) was collected from the questionnaire in 2005.…”

“…According to Johns [14], the most recent conceptions involve an employee turning up to work despite being ill; the concept is thus aimed at capturing behaviour when an individual is having a health problem. Most studies of sickness presence have gathered information through a self-reported question asking whether the individual has gone to work despite illness [2,4,6,7,11,12,16]. The present study focuses on the reversed association between sickness presence and adjustment latitude at work.…”